Report of
FNCA 2014 Workshop on Safety Management System for Nuclear Facilities Project

WORKSHOP 19 - 23 MAY 2014,
DHAKA, BANGLADESH

Opening and Welcome
The workshop was opened by Engr. Md. Monirul Islam, Commission member for Engineering and Acting Chair of the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC), who welcomed the participants and thanked ANSTO for their leading role in the FNCA SMS project.
Mr Hefin Griffiths, Project Leader for the lead country Australia, replied on behalf of ANSTO. He thanked Mr Islam and his fellow special guests, Mr M. Ali Zulquarnain, BAEC Member, Planning Dr Faisal Kabir, Director International Affairs for their support to the peer review. Mr Griffiths also thanked the host country staff for hosting the workshop and peer review and thanked them for the preparation and administration. Mr Griffiths welcomed the participants, noting that unfortunately Dr Choong Sung Lee from Korea was unable to attend. He particularly welcomed the new participants, stating that the group may start the week as strangers, but that over the week they would become friends and that the peer review process was aimed at friends helping each other with the common goal of improving safety.

Workshop Introduction and the SMS Project Context
Representatives from the participating countries introduced themselves to the workshop.
Mr Griffiths described the activities of the Forum for Nuclear Cooperation in Asia (FNCA) to the participants. The FNCA is a Japan led cooperation framework for peaceful use of nuclear technology in Asia. Within this framework, the Safety Management Systems for Nuclear Facilities project (SMS project) began in 2009 and was planned to run until 2013. It is led by Australia and follows the previous successful Nuclear Safety Culture project which used the self-assessment - peer review approach. The Bangladesh peer review was intended to be the last of the current cycle; however Mr Griffiths was able to announce that Australia had agreed to fund the project for at least another two years.
The SMS project objectives are to identify key aspects of safety management systems for nuclear facilities, to develop self-assessment and peer review methodologies for safety management, and by mutual agreement, to undertake peer reviews at designated institutes in project countries. The inaugural SMS project workshop was held in Sydney in 2010. Subsequently combined workshop / peer reviews were held in Serpong, Indonesia in October 2010, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in November 2011 and Daejeon, Korea in October 2012. Mr Griffiths noted that the experience gained by the team in the previous peer reviews will be valuable in this current review.
Mr Griffiths then outlined the activities of the workshop.

Context for Nuclear Activities in the People's Republic of Bangladesh
To give the participants context information for the peer review there were two presentations on the nuclear activities and regulatory background in Bangladesh.
Mr M. Ali Zulquarnain, BAEC Member, Planning gave an overview of the nuclear infrastructure and Nuclear Energy program of Bangladesh. The BAEC has a mission to promote the peaceful uses of atomic energy in the country. BAEC has a staff of 2,200, including 500 professionals and operates a range of major nuclear facilities including: 3 MW Research Reactor, 3 MV Tandem Accelerator, 350 kCi and 50 kCi Co-60 Sources, RI Production Laboratories, HR Powder Diffractometer, Waste Management Facility, Reactor Calculations, Heat transfer & Stress analysis Laboratories, VLSI & other Electronics R&D Laboratories, NDT Laboratory, NAA and other Analytical Laboratories, 14 Nuclear Medicine Centres & 1 NM Institute, Training Institute at AERE, Savar, Dhaka.
Mr Zulquarnain also gave details of Bangladesh's plans to build a nuclear power capacity of 2000 MW by 2021 as part of the strategic vision of the government. This would equate to 10% of the predicted capacity by 2021, delivered by two 1000 MW reactors, with a further 2000 MW capacity by 2030. The driver is energy security to meet the planned increase in demand, with nuclear being part of a balanced energy portfolio.
Dr Jahanara Begum of the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority (BAERA) then gave a presentation on the nuclear regulation framework and processes in Bangladesh. The new regulatory body was formed by the BAER Act in 2012. Previously, the regulatory function was performed by the Nuclear Safety and Radiation Control Division of the BAEC under the Nuclear Safety and Radiation Control Act 1993 and Nuclear Safety and Radiation Control Rule 1997.
To strengthen the peaceful use of nuclear activities and for the establishment of the first nuclear power plant in Bangladesh in accordance with national and international standards and requirements, the NSRC Act 1993 was repealed and a new Act entitled Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory (BAER) Act 2012 was been passed by the National Parliament on 19 June 2012. The aims of the Act included to establish an independent regulatory authority for regulating nuclear safety and radiological protection and to enable Bangladesh meet its international obligations on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

Country Reports
Following previous suggestions, the approach in this workshop was to allow for more focus on a specific topic. The issue chosen for its relevance was Change management and how this is integrated into the management systems. The participants from each country made a presentation giving an update of changes in their safety management. There was good discussion following the presentations and they were well received.

Special Presentations and Sessions
There were no special presentations during this peer review. However, during the review of the workshop it was agreed that this should be included as part of the next workshop. The topics of integration, particularly expanding on how certain countries have successfully integrated their safety management systems and resilience in safety management systems were suggested as future topics.

Feedback from the Previous Peer Review
An important step in the peer review process is the follow-up by the previous peer review host organisation on the comments and suggestions for potential improvements. Unfortunately, the absence of a Korean representative from the workshop precluded this.

Self Assessment and Peer Review Process
The self-assessment tool is central to the review process and a sound understanding is important for users. Because there were new participants in the team, Mr Griffiths gave some training to ensure everyone was familiar before the BTRR peer review.

Workshop Summary and Conclusions
The workshop presentations from Bangladesh staff provided good understanding of the context for the peer review of BTRR and associated facilities. The country reports were interesting and well received.
During the workshop discussions there were two proposals designed to make the SMS project learning more readily available. The first was to make the country reports available prior to the meeting. This would allow the context for nuclear applications and facilities available to new participants prior to the meeting. Also, if there have been no relevant changes to SMS related activities within specific countries there would be no requirement for a country presentation. The aim would be to ensure that country presentations concentrate on SMS related issues, whilst still allowing participants to familiarise themselves with the nuclear framework of each country.
Mr Satoshi Kurata suggested that he recap his previous presentation on the objectives of the peer review process at the next workshop. This would greatly assist in defining the scope and role of the peer review and clarify the distinction between the peer review process and an audit.
The participants were reminded that the project has two more years of funding and, therefore two opportunities for countries to volunteer to host a peer review workshop. As yet there is no volunteer to host the next workshop, which is likely to take place in the first half of 2015. The proposal for the future peer reviews is to focus more on specific processes and the details will be developed next year.

Program of
FNCA 2014 Workshop on Safety Management System for Nuclear Facilities Project